The monastery ruins with the park is a popular excursion destination for the Greifswald and its guests. The monastery ruins is also the start and target point to the theme cycle path "Route of North German Romantic", the stations and lives of the North German romantics of Western Pomerania.
With his paintings and drawings, Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) made the ruin of the medieval Cistercian monastery Eldena widely known. The remains of the once important monastery are embedded in a park with an old tree population, including 180-year-old oaks, which shape Friedrich's ideas and shape the romantic atmosphere of the facility. The main accent of the ruin is the imposing west facade of the former monastery church with the high pointed -arched window opening.
The Hilda (Eldena) monastery was founded in 1199 after Cistercian monks had to give up their monastery in Dargun in a row. The new monastery was built east of the later town of Greifswald, at the mouth of the Ryck river into the Danish Wiek. In 1248, the “Oppidum Gripheswald” was first mentioned in a document under the possessions of the monastery and in 1250 the city rights were awarded to today's Greifswald. The monastery ruin is located in the Eldena district, in the immediate vicinity of the Fischerdorf Wieck and the Greifswald Bodden.
In the Middle Ages, Eldena was the most important monastery in the region, the economic and spiritual center of the area and reached its heyday around 1400. It was structured from the early 13th century to the beginning of the 15th century. The monastery existed until the Reformation movement in the region in 1533 and subsequently refused.
In 1634, the University of Greifswald from the last Pomeranian Duke Bogislaw XIV received the office of Eldena and thus the monastery grounds and associated lands. After looting in the Thirty Years' War by Imperial and Swedish troops, the remains of the medieval monastery complex fell more and more. Since the second half of the 17th century, they have even been used as a quarry for fortress and Greifswald university buildings.
The rescue of the facility is largely thanks to the intervention of the romantic ideas of Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm (1795–1861, later King Friedrich Wilhelm IV.). In 1827 he found the ruin in a neglected state. As a result, from 1828-1832 the first clean-up and renovation work and a park to open up the site took place. Instead of the lack of long house pillars of the nave, oaks were set. The merger of the eternal recurring nature with the venerable structural testimonies of an irretrievable past time carries a profound symbolism, which also captivates today's visitors at all years and times of the year.
Caspar David Friedrich, born in Greifswald in 1774, made the monastery ruin Eldena world famous. He is now the most important painter and draftsman of German early romance and used sketches of the monastery ruins in his paintings "Winter", "Monastery ruins in the Giant Mountains" and "Abbey in the Eichwald". Some of his works are exhibited in the Pomeranian State Museum. In the Caspar David Friedrich Center in the Greifswald city center you can experience the life and work of the painter impressively.
The expansion of the Office of the Office and the establishment of an agricultural academy in 1835, which existed until 1876, must be emphasized from the retrofitting history of the facility. The still existing monastery buildings were also used for agriculture.
The monastery ruin has been owned by the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald since 1937. Nowadays the monastery ruin and the surrounding park is a popular local recreation area, landmark of the city and backdrop for film recordings and various events. In summer, theater performances, the Eldena monastery market (since 2014), the Jazz Festival Eldenaer Jazz Evenings (since 1981) and other concerts and events take place. The monastery ruin is a station on the Caspar David Friedrich Bildweg and the European Route of Brick Gothic.
Parking & journey: https://www.greifswald.de/de/freizeit-kultur/veranstaltungen/klostermarkt/anfahrt-klosterruine-eldena/
Route of the North German Romance: Klosterruine Eldena-Friedrich's favorite motif
Caspar David Friedrich was on September 5th Born in Greifswald in 1774 and is considered the most important painter and draftsman of the German early romanticism. In his paintings "Winter" and "Abbey in the Eichwald", he used sketches of the Eldena monastery ruin as templates and made them world -famous. During his home visits, Caspar David Friedrich always rediscovered the architecture of the monastery ruins. He drew them from all perspectives. The high west facade was of particular interest to him, it forms the center of many of his works. Through his pictures, the ruin came into the focus of the public. Here is the start or destination of the theme wheel route "Route of North German Romantic".
